World War II Database

The Tripartite Pact

ww2dbaseOriginally signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, the Tripartite Pact was a typical European-style mutual defense treaty between the signatory nations. The treaty would call upon all three nations to unite against any aggressor who had violated the sovereignty of any of the three nations, not including nations that were already engaged in war with any of the three nations. It was not difficult to see that, given the international political situation at the time, the Tripartite Pact was signed with the intention to force the United States to remain isolationist and out of WW2 which had already been waging for an extended amount of time in Europe, northern and eastern Africa, and China.

ww2dbaseA summary of the Tripartite Pact is as follows:

ww2dbaseARTICLE 1. Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in the establishment of a new order in Europe.

ww2dbaseARTICLE 2. Germany and Italy recognize and respect the leadership of Japan in the establishment of a new order in Greater East Asia.

ww2dbaseARTICLE 3. Japan, Germany, and Italy agree to cooperate in their efforts on aforesaid lines. They further undertake to assist one another with all political, economic and military means if one of the Contracting Powers is attacked by a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Japanese-Chinese conflict.

ww2dbaseARTICLE 4. With a view to implementing the present pact, joint technical commissions, to be appointed by the respective Governments of Japan, Germany and Italy, will meet without delay.

ww2dbaseARTICLE 5. Japan, Germany and Italy affirm that the above agreement affects in no way the political status existing at present between each of the three Contracting Powers and Soviet Russia.

ww2dbaseARTICLE 6. The present pact shall become valid immediately upon signature and shall remain in force ten years from the date on which it becomes effective.

ww2dbaseThe pact was signed by representatives Führer Adolf Hitler of Germany, Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano of Italy, and Ambassador to Germany Saburo Kurusu of Japan.

Joachim von Ribbentrop alerted the German embassy in the Soviet Union that Japan was likely to join Germany and Italy in an alliance. Should this happen, the ambassador was to alert the Soviet Union of this news, and to ensure the USSR that this alliance was meant to deter the United States from entering the war and in no way was meant to be formed against Soviet interests.

In the late evening, the German ambassador in the Soviet Union shared the news that Japan was about to join Germany and Italy in a military alliance. The Soviet Union immediately complained that, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the text of such an alliance should have been shared with the USSR prior to the pact being signed, including any secret clauses.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Bogdan Filov signed the Tripartite Pact, which gave Germany the option of invading Greece through Bulgaria. Bulgaria was promised territories lost to Yugoslavia and Greece after WW1.

Prince Paul, Regent of Yugoslavia, arrived in Berchtesgaden in Germany where Hitler applied further pressure for Yugoslavia to join Tripartite Pact. Hitler offered to cede Salonika and part of Macedonia to Yugoslavia in return for allowing German troops to transit into Greece.

Prime Minister Dragisa Cvetkovic of Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact at Vienna, Austria; in secret, Yugoslavia had also allowed German troops to travel on Yugoslavian railroads for an attack on Greece. Upon hearing of the signing of this document, anti-Axis demonstrations escalated in Belgrade.

I think if Japan would attack Russia from the far east it would easily contribute to the success of Operation Barbarossa, the German name for the invasion of Russia. Russian spy Richard Sorge, was successfully entered German embassy in Japan. He had succeeded in persuading the Japanese military to move into the south not in the far east. When he reported to Kremlin that Japanese are going to attack in the south Russia withdrew her several division from the far east and sent them to the crucial Moscow front.
Those fresh troops halted and moved back the German army of Von Bock near Moscow. For the first time in the war Germany army moved back.

2. Bill says:26 Jun 2011 06:21:37 PM

The Tipartite pact signed September 1940
The pact was designed to provided political, economic, military and technical cooperation between Germay, Italy and Japan.
Exchange of raw materials, equipment, with technical assistance and personnel most of the material was sent by ship, but the Axis
had difficulties due to Allied submarines and naval ships.
RUIN A GOOD IDEA:
The Allies were catching the Axis ships thanks to MAGIC decrypts. Germany started to transport material via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but later ceased when the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941 and the USSR became an Ango-American Ally, the Japanese
did't want provoke the USSR.
THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES:
The Germans and the Japanese were forced to fly cargo and personnel by air across Russia to Japan. This operation was without cost aircraft became lost, were intercepted by Soviet aircraft, or disappeared over the vast area of the USSR.
Tachikawa Ki-77 was a long range transport
the aircraft was lost in 1943 over the
Indian Ocean possibly to RAF fighters on its
way from Singapore to Berlin.
The Germans used the Fw 200 Kondor or the Junkers Ju 290 four-engine transports,
KG 200 continued to fly its last missions up to the end of the war in Europe May 1945.
If the air link was difficult, shipping by sea was just as dangerous, Axis shipping losses were high due to submarines and naval ships. Ships traveling each way to and from
Europe and Japan faced Allied attacks and by 1944 very few Axis ships arrived in France.
Submarines were used, but they could only carry a limited amount of cargo and like the surface ships, they were hunted down and sunk
MONEY TALKS: EVEN BETWEEN AXIS PARTNERS:
One of the problems in cooperation between the Germans and the Japanese was the price the Germans wanted for various technology
and technical assistance that was payable
in Gold or Reich Marks Please!...
WHO GETS THERE FIRST:
Sometimes cooperation was largely theory the Germans were pressuring the Vichy French for rubber, and the Japanese found themselves in competition in their own back yard, with the Germans for Thailand's rubber.
END OF THE PACT:
Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943. Germany was still cooperating with Japan, but with the USSR attacking from the East, and the Western Allies attacking from the West this brought and end to any real meaning and effectiveness to the treaty.
By 1944/1945, Germany and Japan were really fighting seperate wars.
OTHER COUNTRIES THAT JOINED THE PACT:
Bulgaria
China
Croatia
Hungary
Manchukuo
Romania
Slovakia
Thailand
Each country listed above surrendered to the USSR or the Western Allies in 1945.
*Note
China
(Reorganized National Government of China) Nanking Government: under Japanese control. Manchukuo: Japanese controlled.
Thailand: Japanese ally and controlled

3. Bill says:26 Jun 2011 08:13:05 PM

RELUCTANT ALLIES:
"The only thing worse than having Allies,is not having them."
-Winston Churchill-
Was there ever any real cooperation between
Germany and Japan, was the Tripartite Pact
used to further their own military and political moves. Adolf Hitler never told the Japanese about his non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, until two days before it was signed.
The Japanese didn't tell the Germans about
their neutrality pact with the Soviets, and the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a swift surprise to the Germans. Hastily arranged meetings on joint warfare agreements brought few measures.
LOOK BUT DON'T TOUCH:
The German Navy refused to share weapons and equipment technology with the Japanese until 1944 only after Adolf Hitler intervened the
Japanese held back from join-operations with the German in the Indian and Pacific Ocean
a lack of cooperation, racial arrogance by both sides, led to language and logistic difficulties nothing came of any real naval coooperation.
AXIS:
The term "Axis" was never an official term
for any of the various Alliances that both Nazi Germany, Italy and other countries formed. The term was coined by Mussolini for the German-Italian Pact that was known as the (Pact of Steel)

4. Anonymous says:10 May 2017 07:54:21 AM

Very good thanks man I'm glad i read this it was good. Good job this was good.

5. Anonymous says:11 Mar 2019 02:13:06 AM

Cheers mate, Bill this was simply spectcular

6. Anonymous says:11 Mar 2019 02:14:10 AM

Chanks mate

7. Derrick says:19 Jun 2019 04:56:58 AM

Perhaps it should be mentioned the Tripatite Pact was a public relations and political disaster for the Axis. It was designed to intimidate the United States. It certainly terrified many Americans because everybody knew to whom it was directed. But instead of intimidating it galvanised, helping to change the psyche of many Americans into accepting the necessity of urgent rearmament.

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